A Forbidden Taking (3 page)

He cautiously walked toward the
car. He could smell it more now that he was closer and tried to ignore it in
order to concentrate on the persons inside. When he was about five feet away he
halted and cleared his throat. “My name is Bradley Wolff, the alpha of this
territory. I’d like to speak to the person in the trunk and ask you if the pup
you have is harmed.”

He didn’t think she’d answer. He,
in fact, counted on it. When he heard JC whimper he leapt to the car and smashed
his fist into hard metal. The hand that came out of the small slot just under
the lock tore at his thigh and opened a gash. Blood poured from the wound and
he jumped back.

“You do that again and I’ll hurt
the little boy. He’s scared and I want you to go away. I told that other idiot
that I just wanted them to back the fuck up, but he keeps telling me no.”

The voice sounded angry. Well,
Bradley thought, so the fuck was he. He started forward again when he heard JC
whimper.

“Please, Alpha, I want my mommy. Will
you just go away so she can get away? She didn’t hurt me, but I gotta pee
something serious. Okay?”

Bradley couldn’t let her go, he
realized. He’d been hurt and his pack knew she’d done it. If he let her go now
they’d hunt her down and murder her. If she was innocent, which he was very
much sure she was, she’d be just as dead. Taking another step back, he pulled
out his cell and called in the big guns. Might as well get this over with he
thought with a grimace. “Aaron, I have a problem. I need your help.”

~~~

“All right. I can be there in a
few minutes. Don’t go near the car again, Bradley. I’d hate to have to explain
to Airic that you didn’t wait for reinforcements to come in and got yourself
drained by another woman. I know you said she hurt you and something has to be
done, but wait for me.” Aaron hung up the phone in the kitchen and looked over
at his mate. “I have to go into town. Bradley said he has a she-vamp that has
kidnapped one of his young and she hurt him when he’d tried to get the pup free.”

Sara looked up from her plate. Aaron
loved to watch her eat and now he was going to miss it. He looked longingly at
the cheeseburger and fries that were still steaming on the platter before her.
When he looked up at her face he could see her disappointment as well. But also
her concern and understanding.

“I’ll come with you. The girl, do
you know anything about her? Any reason why she’d take the young one?” She was
covering the plate with plastic wrap as she spoke.

He thought about telling her that
he wanted her to stay here, to be safe, but didn’t. He knew several things
would happen if he did. She’d come anyway, she would kick his ass when they got
back, and she would be angry with him for a long night. He just shook his head
and put the tea jug in the refrigerator with the other condiments they had
gotten out.

“No. Bradley seemed to think she
is terrified and he was afraid she’d hurt the pup and/or herself before she
came out. He was also afraid if she isn’t involved that, no matter how many
times he told his pack, she’d be hunted down like an animal and killed because
she’d hurt their alpha. Well, not really hurt him, but he’d been hurt and
they’d blame her all the same.”

“Hurt? Is he all right? Why didn’t
you tell me that in the first place? Damn it, Aaron, priorities. That should
have been the first thing you said.”

Aaron tried not to be insulted
that his mate would be that upset about another man, but he knew that Sara
loved him. And that her concern for Bradley was because he was an old friend of
both of theirs. He tried to tell himself that it wasn’t jealously that made him
want to murder his friend, but his ability to annoy Aaron. “He’s fine enough to
have called me. Sara, this part of town where she is, it’s not—”

“Aaron, if you value that
impressive cock of yours, you won’t finish that statement. I’m going. You know
as well as I do that I’m an immortal and that my magic can help the child if he
needs it. I’m going. Now the sooner you get that into your head, the sooner we
can get there and the sooner I can get back here and finish my dinner for you.”

He rubbed his hand over her huge
belly. The baby, his baby and hers, was nestled there and the bigger she grew
with this one, the happier he was. When the baby kicked back at him, he felt
rather than saw Sara’s knowing grin.

“See? He’s telling you to buck up
too. Come on. I want to come back here so that we can make love again.”

Aaron simply leaned down and
kissed her belly then her mouth. He knew when to pick his battles and now
seemed the perfect time to do so. He felt a small twinge of anger toward the
unknown girl and tried to shake it off. Within seconds they were at their
destination.

By the time they got there the
girl had left the trunk. Aaron watched in awe as three of Bradley’s men sat on
the ground nursing what appeared to be broken bones and numerous cuts. With a
raised brow Aaron walked toward his friend. “Couldn’t wait, could you? Is
anything serious?” Aaron didn’t think so, but couldn’t tell. Wolves, like
vampires, could heal fast, but pain was pain.

“No. But she’s hurt now too. And I
did wait. Something must have spooked her and she opened the trunk and tore
through us in no time. Luckily for me, I was just coming back from a bathroom
break or I might have been hurt again too.”

Aaron looked at the men. Yes, he
could see that none of them were very badly hurt. Mostly superficial stuff. He
turned to ask Bradley where the girl was when he saw the child.

The little wolf was beautiful. His
dark brown hair was highlighted with streaks of gold and black. His fur when he
shifted would be a dark gray to brown and his eyes, brown now, would be a dark
gold. Aaron saw that the child wasn’t harmed, but seemed to be having a good
time with the adults holding him.

“He’s fine. JC said that he didn’t
know what happened, but the girl, the vamp, didn’t hurt him. He said that he
woke up with her sleeping beside him and it wasn’t until one of us started to
pound on the trunk demanding that he be let out that she woke. It was full
daylight when David got here and he wondered if she was in her sleep period.”

Aaron nodded. He was very sure
that was what she’d been doing. He could smell her now, the vampire. She was
young. Very young, he thought, too young to be out on her own and much too
young to be without her maker. But he knew that she was. He could smell no
other vampires in the area.

“Did she say anything? And which
way did she go?” Aaron looked at his mate as she spoke. Now that it was
determined that the pup was safe Sara would think about the girl.

Aaron wandered away. He was
following her scent, the scent that called to him as a master. She was hurt, as
Bradley said, but he didn’t know how badly. He was at the abandoned warehouse
before he knew it. She was there just in the corner and she was crying.

“Come out, child. I need to see
your wounds. I’d also like to talk to you about what happened between you and
the pup. There isn’t anyone going to harm you.”

Aaron didn’t put much command in
his voice; he didn’t feel it was necessary. She was too young to fight him and weak
too. He simply waited for her to do as he bid.

“I don’t think so. I didn’t hurt
that kid. He was already unconscious when I found him. You just go away and
I’ll go about my business.”

He felt Sara’s laughter run though
his mind. She knew his thoughts as well as she knew her own and it rankled him
that she’d heard his arrogance. He started to say more to the young vamp, anger
about to spill from his lips, when Sara stopped him with a whisper though his
mind.

“She’s already proven that
she’s stronger than you thought. I wouldn’t piss her off any more than I had to
if I were you. Go gently, Aaron, love. She’s been hurt too.”

“And she’ll hurt more if she
doesn’t learn to obey her master.”
Aaron took a deep breath.
“You know
as well as I that she is young. Too young. I don’t feel her maker anywhere
around and that’s a danger all by itself.”

“Probably. But she doesn’t seem
to be hurting you right now. I can’t…her mind is a jumble of thoughts. Mostly
terror. If you could calm her, I could probably get an idea where she is from.”

Calm her. His mate could be so
helpful at times. Aaron turned back to the girl and crouched down to her level.
He was going to smile, but didn’t want to make her think she wasn’t in trouble
for this.

“JC is going to be fine. He said
that—”

“Is that the man? He attacked me
and I had no choice but to take him. They were going to…if I tell you what
happened, will you go away and forget you ever saw me?”

Aaron wanted to know more, but
knew that if he told her yes, he’d be lying to them both. He couldn’t let her
go. He needed to turn her over to her maker and then reprehend him for not
keeping better control over his child. He started to tell her that when he saw
her move. Aaron backed up when she stood up completely.

“I want you to move so I can
leave. I didn’t hurt that kid. When I found him and those men they’d already
drugged him. I saved him and I think that should count for…what about my home?
Who do you think will pay me for the damage to it?”

Aaron swore a long stream of
curses before he looked back at the beat up car. “By your home I’m assuming you
mean the car over there, correct? You’re living in your car with your maker and
he’s left you here to do what, pray tell?”

“Maker? I don’t…you mean Alfred? The
person who made me into this monster? I don’t…he’s dead. I don’t know what
happened to him other than the fact that he attacked me one night and did
this.” She pointed to the jagged scar on her neck. “Then he just disappeared. I
guess it was a week later when I woke up in that cave with this feeling…I knew
he was dead. I felt him die and then fell back to sleep.”

Aaron ignored her reference to
being a monster. If she was made a vampire against her will it was probably a
good thing this Alfred was dead. The Council was very strict on turning without
permission.

“When did he turn you? And tell me
your name. I’m Aaron MacManus, by the way. I’m master of this realm you’re in.”

She shifted on her feet. Aaron
still couldn’t see her face, but he could see that she was a young female. The
shadows she was in made her seem small, but he had already figured out that she
was bigger than he now thought. She’d have to be to plow through those full
grown wolves and live.

“My name isn’t any of your
business. I don’t have a clue what you mean by ‘master of the realm.’ Sounds
like you’ve been smoking some great weed or you are having delusions of
grandeur. I’m thinking the latter of the two.”

“It means you’re supposed to bow
down before him and think he’s the best thing since sliced bread. You should
listen to him. He gets testy when he doesn’t get his way.”

Aaron turned to his mate. He was
about to snap at her when she gave a very small shake of her head. He would
play along until he got answers or until he got his way.

“And that doesn’t make you
sound like you’re having ‘delusions of grandeur’? Sounds just like that to me,”
she whispered again.

He turned back to the woman when
she laughed. “Yeah, well you sound just like him. I don’t need or want a boss. I’m
leaving.” She stepped into the light and both Aaron’s and Sara’s breath caught.
Christ, she was beautiful.

~Chapter 4~

Megan looked at the couple before
her. The woman was simply the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Tall and willowy,
she still looked tiny standing next to the man. Her red hair seemed to glow
with colors and light. Megan could smell that she was different, just not how.

The man was huge. Scary huge, Megan
thought. She found herself starting to step back, but when he lifted his
eyebrow at her she took a step forward then another for good measure. She
lifted her chin at the challenge she saw in his eyes. His long midnight hair seemed to reflect all the light from the moon back up to it. She felt stupid
when he laughed at her.

“Ah, you mean to challenge me as
well? Good. I’ve not had a good fight in awhile and would welcome the chance to
take you down a peg or two.”

She moved quickly and flipped him
to his back and onto the ground before he finished the word. A blade at his
throat had him raising his hands in defeat. Or so she thought.

“I’m a vampire of considerable
strength and age. If you bring me down…” She was suddenly on her back and him with
her own blade at her throat. “Then you’d do well to bring a knife of silver,
not stainless steel.”

The blade cut into her skin with a
bite. She hissed out the pain and glared at the man over her as he ran his
thumb over the tiny wound and then licked it clean from his skin. She didn’t
know why he’d done that what with all the diseases going around, but it wasn’t
her problem. Moving quickly again she brought her feet up to his back and
grabbed him around the neck, wrapping her feet around him. With a hard jerk, he
was off her and she was standing several feet away. He lay there looking up at
her and she felt like she’d gotten the upper hand. With a low bow without
taking her eyes from him, she ran away. Sometimes running away was better than
gloating.

She was nearly to her car when she
stopped. The men, wolves, were still there and she knew as she watched that
she’d have to find another place to stay from now on. They were loading her
home onto a large tow truck and taking it away. She nearly cried for what she’d
considered her only thing left of her other life. Moving along the outer
perimeter of the group, she spotted the little boy and sighed with relief.

He was with what she assumed were
his parents. And they looked so happy to have him back. As she watched, the big
man and the woman came over to them and shook hands with the man. Aaron, he’d
said his name was, and she wondered again what he’d meant by the “master”
stuff.